Utilities may use communication systems to read data from electricity, water, and/or gas meters. These communication systems and meters may be installed at customer locations and used to measure consumption and other parameters to determine a customer's monthly bill.
Historically, these metering devices are installed in the field and they are left in the field for the life of the meter, typically 15-25 years. With the growth of communication systems and smart meters, functionality may be downloaded to the meters via remote firmware upgrades. With this capability, utilities may setup a test system where new firmware functionality may be tested and verified before being deployed to a production system used for billing purposes. This has forced utilities to order different sets of equipment, one set with a network identifier for the production system and one or more sets with a network identifier for a test system or systems.
Utilities have also historically performed metering accuracy tests on the various quantities that can be measured by an electricity meter. With the proliferation of radio communications, the radio frequency energy generated from the communication module may have undesired influence on other circuitry in the electricity meter.